Jesus' Goldilocks Prayer

The Lord's Prayer is all about praying like Goldilocks.  Yes, you heard that right.  In the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Goldilocks tries out one chair and declares it's too big.  Then she tests another chair and finds it's too small.  Finally, she settles into a third chair and says it's "just right."  Next, she tries some "too hot" porridge, some "too cold" porridge, and settles on some "just right" porridge (I don't know how ANY porridge could be "just right").  Lastly, she finds one bed to be "too hard," another "too soft," and the final one to be "just right."  Goldilocks, for all her breaking-and-entering, trespassing, and food-stealing faults, knows the value of moderation and contentment. 

"”Somebody has been at my porridge, and has eaten it all up!”" From English Fairy Tales (1918) by Flora Annie Steel, illustrated by Arthur Rackham (link to page / title).

Our Buddhist friends talk a lot about non-attachment.  A more positive way of saying this is contemntent.  This is found in taking the Middle Path through life--one of moderation, one that's neither too hot, too cold, but "just right."  Jesus' Goldilocks Prayer gives an example of this very thing.  In a nutshell, the Lord's Prayer is about letting go.  It's about surrender.  It's about not striving for too much, nor settling for too little, but finding that sweet spot of peace in yourself, and with God.

This little prayer, found in Matthew 6 (NKJV), bookends with verses 9 and 13b: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name...for Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen."  In essence, these phrases say, "It's not all about me."  This is echoed by another statement of contetment, a reminder that it's not all about me: "Your kingdom come.  Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven (v.10)."  By remembering that God, or Higher Power, is in charge, and we are not, we allow ourselves to detach from everything else that may be concerning us.  We bookend our time of prayer with the idea that anything we ask for is beyond our ability to control.  And when we realize we can't control it, we can let it go.  It becomes aboug God's kingdom, power, glory, and purpose, not mine.  It becomes less about what I want, and more about Ultimate Love. About Goodness.  About "Just Right."

"Give us this day our daily bread (v. 11)" is neither a plea for divine help during a time of austerity and fasting, nor is it a request for God to bless with prosperity and privilege.  It is a Goldilocks prayer of "just enough, just for today."  This kind of prayer is an exercise to build inner contentment, because it asks for neither hot nor cold, but "just right."

The prayer continues in verse 12, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."  I could do (and have done) a whole teaching on just this phrase.  For now, I will simply point out that this verse speaks again of contentment.  Contentment with things as they are, even if I have been damaged by someone else.  Lack of attachment to the feelings of hurt that I've been nurturing--replaced, instead, with a sense of balance that says, "As I've been forgiven, so I will forgive."  Again, not too hot (anger) and not too cold (revenge is a dish best served cold, or so says Khan Soonien Singh).  Instead, this simple prayer is one of peace

The final phrase in verse 13 is also one of balance.  "And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."  Put differently, you might say, "Don't lead me into too much pleasure, or too much pain either."  Again, this prayer offers a way of balance--a Middle Way between extremes.  

In astronomy, The Goldilocks Zone refers to the habitable area around a planet where the temperature is not too hot and not too cold, for liquid water to exist.  This makes the planet potentially habitable.  In life, each of us needs to find our own Goldilocks Zone, where things aren't too hard or too soft, too big or too small, too hot or too cold.  We need a zone that's livable, in moderation, in balance, in harmony.  To find this kind of contentment spot, Jesus recommends the Goldilocks Prayer (more commonly known as the Lord's Prayer).  I hope you'll find that it's "just right."

I wish you peace.